The present invention relates generally to a digital information transmission, receiving, and playback system. Specifically, the present invention pertains to a computer network based digital information library providing interactive client computer access.
Recent technological advances in the compression of digital data and the expansion of storage capacities of computer systems together with the increased bandwidth of computer network infrastructures have created new possibilities for personalized access to and usage of large amounts of digital information. One form of this type of digital information is audio information delivered across a computer network as digitized information.
In the field of interactive digital information transmission, receiving, and playback systems, several patents are known to the present applicants. U.S. Pat. No. 5,132,992, issued Jul. 21, 1992 to Yurt et al. (Yurt), describes a system of distributing video and/or audio information employing digital signal processing to achieve high rates of data compression. The Yurt patent describes a transmission system including a conversion means for placing the items from a source material library into a predetermined format as formatted data. Audio data is compressed by an audio compressor by application of an adaptive differential pulse code modulation (ADPCM) process to the audio data. Stored items are accessed in the compressed data library through the use of a unique address code assigned to each item during storage encoding. The unique address code is used for requesting and accessing information and items throughout the Yurt transmission and receiving process. The Yurt transmission system includes means by which a user enters a customer identifier (ID) code by which the system accesses the users account, and indicates to the system that the user is a subscriber of the system. If a subscriber is in good standing, the Yurt system delivers selected titles using the described techniques.
One significant problem with the audio transmission and receiving system described in Yurt is the lack of an effective means for ensuring the security of the digital information library and of the items downloaded to a user from the digital information library. Although Yurt describes the use of a unique identification code assigned to items in the library and a customer ID code assigned to particular users, no authentication protocols or encryption techniques are described to prevent the unauthorized creation of clone libraries or the unauthorized download or copying of library items. Secondly, Yurt and related prior art does not describe an authentication or encryption means providing secure transactions between a server based digital information library supporting a client computer system having an interface to a mobile playback device. Thirdly, the prior art does not describe a mechanism for selecting a digital information passage to be previewed. Prior art systems also do not describe a system whereby only part of a program gets downloaded from a client computer system to a mobile playback device depending on how much storage space is available in the mobile playback device. Prior art systems also do not describe a mechanism for specifying multiple programs to be downloaded from a digital information library into a mobile playback device. Prior art systems also do not detail the processes required in the authoring system to generate content for the digital information library. Finally, prior art systems do not describe an accounting system whereby library content providers can perform real-time queries on usage information related to the access of library items.
The preferred embodiment of the present invention is a computer network based digital information library system employing authentication, targeting, and encryption protocols for the secure transfer of digital information library programs to a client computer system and a mobile digital information playback device removably connectable to the client computer system. The present invention is a computer network based library and information delivery system for accessing and obtaining selected digital information files. The library and information delivery system comprises: 1) a library server having a plurality of digital information files; 2) a client computer system coupled to the library server over a network; and 3) a mobile device removably connectable to the client computer system, the client computer system including logic for requesting a download of a selected one or more of the digital information files from the library server, the client computer system further including logic for downloading the selected one or more of the digital information files to the mobile device.